commerce. In addition to public procurement, administrations may also offer the option of electronic interchange for such transactions as VAT returns and the payment of corporate taxes.
             The consumer administration category is just emerging, in the wake of a growth of both the business consumer and business administration categories; governments may extend electronic interaction to such areas as welfare payments and self-assessed tax returns.
             B2B e-commerce was born out of an attempt to solve an administrative problem. It developed a new computer standard to handle these needs, which became known as EDI, Electronic Data Interchange. Today its descendant, XML, a lighter, simpler data interchange standard is used by B2B sites. Simple e-commerce sites first appeared in 1992. The early e-commerce sites were virtual catalogues, simply listing products for sale. Ordering was off-line, through e-mail, phone or fax. By 1996 the technology had advance
             ...